A. Related Applications
There are no applications related hereto heretofore filed in this or in any foreign country.
B. Field of Invention
This invention relates to receptacles, and more particularly to a vessel attachment forming a removable variable sized handle.
C. Background and Description of Prior Art
Cooking vessels and cook sets are essential equipment for outdoor activities such as camping and especially for backpacking enthusiasts. In addition to size and weight considerations, cook sets must be durable, strong, reliable and should not have parts that can be easily lost or misplaced. Because cook sets are used to prepare, contain and carry solid and liquid food-stuffs that may be heated to high temperatures, handles for manipulating cook set components such as pots and pans must be sturdy and reliable.
Stacking or nesting cook sets, wherein plural elements may be carried one-within-another, to conserve space are known in the prior art, for example aluminum Boy Scout® cook sets. Unfortunately, stacking and nesting pots and pans and the like, hereinafter referred to as vessels, to conserve space requires that handles for the vessels be removed when the vessels are stacked/nested and the handles must thereafter be reattached to the vessels prior to use. Detachment and reattachment of the handles for transport and use, respectively, requires that each vessel have its own handle, which is contrary to the goal of reducing weight and mass.
Universal vessel handles that may be used with a variety of vessels are known, and avoid the need to carry multiple handles. Universal handles generally function in one of two ways. First, universal handles may be constructed of spring steel with retentive memory and formed into a general “U” shape with two spaced apart parallel elongated legs, each leg having a perpendicularly extending prong at an end opposite the end portion interconnecting the elongate legs. The prongs releasably engage with a pair of spaced apart radially extending loops protruding from a bracket fastened to an outer circumferential surface of a vessel. The retentive memory of the material forming the handle maintains the engagement of the prongs with the bracket loops. A second type of universal handle operates on the same principle as a hand-tool “pliers” but the jaws and handles are oriented vertically to grasp an upper circumferential edge of a vessel. The user's squeezing together of the handles provides the grip on the vessel edge.
Universal handles unfortunately have various drawbacks. The spring biased type universal handles are flimsy and to do not provide a secure attachment to the vessel, especially when the vessel is tipped or rotated such as to pour contents into another container. Pliers type universal handles provide more stability in handling a vessel, but only engage with the vessel when the user is actively squeezing the handles together. Even a momentary and unintentional release of operator supplied tension on the handles allows the handles to disengage from the vessel perhaps leading to accidents and injuries.
Semi-permanent vessel handles are also known, such as handle brackets of Boy Scout cook sets that are interconnected to vessels by means of a finger tightened wing-nut on a bolt to form a radially extending vessel handle.
Semi-permanent handles have various drawbacks as well. The handles can be difficult to secure to the cooking utensil, the finger tightened wing-nut may loosen with use leading to an unstable handle, one or more of the interconnecting pieces may be lost making the cook set unusable and the semi permanent nature of the attaching means necessitates that a handle be available for each vessel because changing the handle from vessel to vessel is not practical when the vessel is hot or being heated.
What is needed is a cooking vessel handle that may be quickly and securely attached to a cooking vessel and also quickly and easily detached therefrom without the need to touch the possibly hot cooking vessel. The handle must be sturdy, small and lightweight to satisfy a primary need of backpackers, the handle must not have parts and portions that can be lost, and the handle must permit the cooking vessel to be manipulated as needed, such as tipping to pour its contents and the like.
Our invention overcomes various of the aforementioned drawbacks by providing an improved pot bracket and a variable size cooking vessel handle that is quickly and easily attachable to a variety of cooking vessels having the pot bracket. The handle securely attaches to the cooking vessel and will not inadvertently or unintentionally detach therefrom, and eliminates the need to carry multiple vessel handles. Further, the present invention is foldable so that it can be stored and carried within the confines of the cook set with which it is used. Although primarily designed for use with camping cook sets, our invention is equally well suited for use with household cooking utensils.
Our invention does not reside in any single one of the identified features individually but rather in the synergistic combination of all of its structures, which give rise to the functions necessarily flowing therefrom as hereinafter claimed.